Archive of Our Own

Shouto was born with the power to cut strings. He didn’t know it at first, of course, but we’ll get there soon, for now, we should start with his childhood, right? First, he has always been able to see the red string, since it was the strongest one. He remember, walking on the park with his mother and ask why the woman had the string connected with someone else if she was holding hands with another man. She could never answer. His mother, by the way, were the only one that actually believed him; his siblings thought he was joking, his dad didn’t care for children’s lies. When no one believed him, Todoroki Rei did.

When he was five, he saw his mother getting hit by his father for the first time. So he asked why she suffers if her string if connected to Todoroki Enji. Again, she couldn’t answer. ‘Destiny is cruel, Shouto’ she said once, and the kid agreed, even if he wasn’t able to understand it properly. So he got older and his mother explained properly that he had a given, he was born with the power to see the strings of destiny, at the time she said it was both a blessing and a curse, but the latter part Shouto understood just years later, when his mother trowed a kettle of boiling water on his face, leaving him with a scar. The burn mark on his face was eternal, just like the red strings. But we’ll get on it later.

The first time he saw other color of string was when his father spanked him for the first time. At that point, his mother had already been hospitalized, unable to get over her disease. The doctors weren’t able to cure her, and when they were asked why, they looked sadly at the kid, always having the same dialogue.

“We can’t cure her, sweetie. If she had a broken arm or leg, we could easily fix that, but it’s not that easy now.”

“Why?”

“She’s sick on the mind, darling. It’s the worst and deadliest disease one could have.”

With Rei out of the house, Enji needed someone to feel his anger and, sadly, Shouto was chosen. ‘I wished mom’s string wasn’t connected to you’ he said and, even if that one quote leaded to years of physical abuse, he didn’t regret. When he was being called a liar while his own father spanked him, he was still not afraid. So, there, as a kid, incapable of feeling any more pain and wondering where all that blood came from, he saw it. A blue string. He knew it immediately, reason unknown, but he recognized it as a family bond.

From that moment, he had a goal: wonder how to cut strings, destroy bonds. He wasn’t afraid of the destiny anymore, if the so called destiny dared to fuck with him, his family, he could fuck with it too.

So he searched, old books, family members, a useless search for a long time, until he heard about an old woman, really sick, who was so close to death, but that once was a beautiful priest capable of seeing the red strings, blessed by God with the power to cut them. Shouto looked for her and found, fortunately, she lived on the same city, so it wasn’t hard for a young boy to find her. He visited her on the hospital and when he asked how to cut the strings, she was worried at first, explaining how they weren’t supposed to mess with God, but after he explained the situation, she decided to confine on him. She gave him a scissor, telling him to only cut on extreme cases, that his family should be safe after cutting bonds with his father. He promised to use that power to help everyone in situations like him and they parted ways.

When he came to visit, a week later, the woman was already dead.

He gathered all of his courage and cut ties of him and his siblings with his father, then, after, cut ties of his mother and that man. In a short period of time, Rei was already cured, as if she had never met Todoroki Enji. They moved from that town and lived calmly, until Shouto left home to go to and university, which he worried at first, leaving his mother alone, but his older siblings already had an stabilized life and were able to take care of her properly, so he left with the promise of visiting whenever he had the chance.

As to university, he was able to make good friends (even if that place was a mess of strings and made Shouto confused some times) like Midoriya, who recommended the place where he lives now. Let’s explain. Midoriya Izuku is a short, cheerful man who is always willing to help. And he always did. Once, Shouto had problems with his landlord, so Izuku arranged him a new place to live.

“This house is from my acquaintance, he lives on the second floor with his boyfriend, but he said you can stay with the first floor. And it’s cheaper than the place you lived before, isn’t that amazing?!”

And truth to be told, the house was really big, so big that he met the landlord, Midoriya’s friend, Bakugou Katsuki, just once since he has been living there, two months now, when they were arranging the conditions. The guy in question was a young man (he had Midoriya’s age, after all) with a bit of an explosive personality. And, if it wasn’t for his rudeness, Shouto would have fallen in love when they met first. Ash-blonde hair, crimson eyes like rubys, perfect height and body, pale skin that gave him a delicate, doll-like appearance, as if anything could easily mark him (and it was true, he would learn it later). But, when he opened his mouth, he was fairly different from Shouto’s imagination.

“I don’t care who the fuck you are or the fuck you are doing. You can be a killer if you want, just don’t mess the house. Don’t go up stairs. You don’t have a reason. Both floors have bedrooms, kitchens, all those fucks, so the only thing we will share is the main corridor, was I fucking clear?” Shouto nodded, quietly and the man trowed the keys to him. “I won’t clean your shit or endure with your loud noises, so be like a fucking ghost, alright?”

In fact, the one making loud noises was always the blonde, named Bakugou Katsuki. Shouto has never met the talked boyfriend, but he always heard him, or them, in the middle of the night and, for someone asking for silence, Bakugou was able to moan pretty loudly, actually. He didn’t mind at all and, in fact, he was happy that the couple seemed to get along. Shouto has saw the string on Bakugou’s finger, connecting him to someone upstairs, other reason for Shouto loss of interest on the man.

He was also able to hear loud, bang noises, as if something was breaking. It always gave him bad memories, so he would always put on earphones and ignore it until the blonde decided to end it.

Other fact about the blonde was that he almost never leave the house, Shouto assumed that he worked at home and Midoriya agreed, never entering much on the topic. Whatever. Even with some strange noises and the blonde’s personality, they lived rather peacefully, never meeting each other. He almost forgot that there was someone living upstairs, to be honest.

But, after two months after their last encounter, they met again.

“Man, you can’t continue like this” someone yelled at the middle of the night, waking Shouto up. The voice wasn’t familiar and it seemed extremely worried, even so, the halfie stayed in bed.

“Yeah?” that voice belonged to Katsuki, he recognized. He sat on the bed, attentive now. “Let’s see, then.”

”Everyone’s been asking about you! Ever since you started this you don’t hang with anyone.”

“So you thought my reason is him?”

“Isn’t it?”

There wasn’t a reply, or Shouto didn’t hear it at least, so he got up and walked to the door, the one separating him from the corridor, worried now. Was Bakugou in problem? The guy looked fragile, he doubted he would be able to protect himself if anything happened.

“Look, Bakugou, even your family is worried, how long haven’t you contacted them?” the man asked again, insisting on the topic.

“None of your fucking business.”

“It is! Because I worry about you, like everyone else and, fuck, you don’t even leave the house, be honest!”

”I go out, sometimes” he mumbled and Shouto was sure he wouldn’t be able to hear it if he wasn’t gluing his ear to the door, amplifying the sound.

“When was the last time?”

“Dunno, last week.”

“Which month?”

“Uh, July.”

“It’s almost September, Bakugou.”

“Well, aren’t you a fucking smartass.”

“I’m serious, please. Why… Why are you doing this?”

He heard steps, he didn’t know who they belonged, though.

“You should leave, Kirishima.”

“I won’t until you tell me what’s going on.”

“I can’t”

“Try! I’ll help you.”

“No, you fucking can’t!” he yelled loudly and the room when silent for some seconds before he sighed and continued, calmly this time. “Please. Please, leave.”

Shouto wasn’t seeing them, but the could hear the other man’s, Kirishima, disappointment, as if he knew he couldn’t discuss about it. He could almost see the string of friendship falling apart. The guy said something like ‘I’ll come back’ and the door was opened, closed with a loud bang. He assumed Bakugou went upstairs, since everything was quiet again, but soon he heard his voice.

“Hey, no one taught you that is fucking wrong to peep, creeper?”

Shouto opened the door, carefully, as if afraid of going face to face with a ghost, but the ghost in question was Bakugou, arms crossed in front of his chest, angry frown like usual. “I’m sorry. You were being loud, so I woke up.”

“Yeah, the guy is fucking loud, it’s so annoying, huh.”

“I think he was worried about you” and Katsuki froze for a while. “Care to tell me what happened?”

“Fuck, no. Gosh, curious fucker, is none of you business” Shouto lifted an eyebrow, “I should at least be thankful that you were the one that woke up.”

“How so?”

Bakugou froze again, as if he said something he shouldn’t, and probably that was it. Maybe Katsuki was cheating on his boyfriend with that man, Kirishima, but that couldn’t be it, right? He was already with his soulmate, no room for cheating then. “You are annoying too. Fuck, just… Go to sleep and nothing happened, huh? Good night, fucker.”

He was already turning on his heels and walking away before even Shouto could reply, and after a loud bang upstairs, of a door probably, the half-ginger mumbled ‘good night, Bakugou.’

Two weeks later, Shouto caught a cold.

He remember texting Midoriya and then passing out, waking up god-knows-how-many-hours later to Katsuki’s face right in front of him. For once, the man didn’t look angry, his frown being almost… Worried? He tried to sit on the bed, but hands on his chest sent him back to laying down. “Don’t move, idiot, you’ll get nauseous.”

He looked around, eyes following Bakugou across the room, who got up of the bed to walk to the table, where a plate of porridge was resting. “Did you make that?” and the blonde nodded, bringing it up so the sick could eat it. Shouto smiled as he took the first bite, remembering of his mother’s food. “It’s good.”

“I know.”

“Did you use to work at a restaurant?”

“Deku told you?” he didn’t seem surprised and Todoroki assumed that ‘Deku’ was Midoriya. “Yeah, but I quit some years ago.”

”You liked? Working there?”

“It wasn’t that boring, so, yeah, whatever.”

“Why did you quit, then?”

“Why are asking stupid questions?”

“Sorry, I’ll stop.”

“That’s fucking better.”

Shouto ate the rest in silence, surprisingly not uncomfortable with being watched by his landlord, he finished and rested the spoon on the plate, again trying to break the silence. “How did you know I was sick?”

Bakugou lifted an eyebrow “That’s a stupid question.”

“How?”

He sighed, “What about sending a proper text next time? Deku was freaking out when he called to check on you to see if you are alive" oh, yes. Before passing out, Shouto sent something about not being almost dead, but he assumed his friend would understand he had a fever.

“Just to check on me?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you fucking listen?”

“So you didn’t have to cook for me or buy me medicine, right?” he smiled, happy as he saw Katsuki’s cheeks turning red.

“Like I fucking want a dead corpse on my house. Problems with the police? No, fuck you, I’m fine” and the halfie snorted. “And I see what you eat everyday, no one can survive with just convenience store food, alright? That’s why you got sick, dumbass.”

“I don’t know how to cook.”

“I know.”

“Are you offering to…?”

“Not offering. I don’t care at all, but I’ll leave some portions outside you door so you won’t pass the fuck out and cause me trouble again” he rolled his eyes. “If you leave the food there, I’m giving it to the dogs.”

Shouto couldn’t help but to smile, even with the harsh words, Bakugou was a extremely caring person, “Thank you.”

“Ugh, I don’t need your shitty thanks.”

“But I’m thankful.”

“Fuck, I already said that…” he stopped when he heard the front door opening and mumbled “Shit.”

“Who is it?”

“My boyfriend.”

“Oh. I see.”

“I don’t care what you do with the plates, I’ve never been here, alright?” he got up again in a hurry, for some reason, picking up his things and checking the door every time as he did so, worried about someone getting in. Before Shouto could even question about it, the man left, closing the door before saying “Take care, Icyhot.”

‘What was that?’ he thought before falling asleep once again.

He was happy when he met Bakugou outside, when they were both taking out the trash. He hasn’t seen his landlord since the day he got a fever, so it was a nice opportunity to thank him properly. “Bakugou, again, I’m thankful for taking care of me that day.”

“Yeah, whatever” he seemed in a hurry to step back inside, but Shouto blocked his way so he would let him finish.

“Allow me to treat you to dinner tomorrow.”

“You don’t know how to cook.”

“Yes, I’m aware. But I know some nice places.”

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“I have a boyfriend.”

“I’m aware of it too, I have no second intentions on this, trust me.”

“Still… Let me fucking pass already, he’s coming home soon.”

“Will he going be mad if he see us talking?”

“What the hell you talking about, I just…” he groaned, suddenly getting more defensive. “I just want to pass already, fuck off.”

“I won’t, until you agree to the dinner.”

“Alright, alright. Not tomorrow, though. Wednesday I’ll be alone, so I guess we can go to grab some damn food, asshole.”

“You can’t when your boyfriend is home?”

“What the hell… Fuck, no. I just don’t want him to misunderstood, alright? Mind your business and let me pass, Half’n’Half” and Shouto did, entering the house right behind the blonde, smile getting wider as he thought about their date. He knew he should be feeling guilty for lying about not having second intentions; the blonde was really attractive and charming, after all, but did that matter? Nothing would happen at all, the boy already had his soulmate and Shouto knew he wouldn’t be able to change that.

Finally, Wednesday came. He knocked on Shouto’s door at 8 and they went, calling an uber since the place was a little far. On their way, they crossed a street and that when Katsuki finally broke the silence, “The restaurant I worked for is that one, must have broke without me there, huh” he joked but the place was actually in a good state and Shouto turned his head to ask if has always been a luxurious restaurant or if it became so popular after he retired, but seeing Bakugou’s nostalgic, soft smile, he didn’t ask.

“Will you one day go back?”

The smile was still there, but it looked a bit sad now, “Who fucking knows.”

The rest of the card ride was Bakugou telling him old stories about the time he worked there, how he used to be be in charge of the kitchen and organizing everything, how he got along with his coworker Sero Hanta and that now the man was a famous pâtissier now and how much he missed his cakes, but when Shouto told him to eat it again then, he answered “Nah, can’t afford sweeties when I’m not exercising, not getting fucking fat right now” and Shouto didn’t insist. They arrived well at the restaurant, a place that his older sister bought him once and he never forgot. The food was divine, even if Bakugou insisted that the main dish should have been done in a different way (and offering to cook it for Shouto some day), but he liked it anyways.

They talked a lot and he got to know his landlord better. He was harsh and aggressive with words, very blunt, but you could see he wasn’t doing it with bad intentions, and all the times he said something about Shouto’s hair, he could only laugh at all the nicknames, being “Strawberry Cake” and “Japan Flag” his favorites. He watched his cheeks get red when he called the blonde an “Angry Pomerian” and snorted at every joke the blonde man did.

He wished the night didn’t end.

He had fun with someone already compromised, and maybe he should really feel bad about it, but he couldn’t, not when the blonde smiled and said “You’re interesting, Todoroki”, and he almost caught fire. Maybe if destiny reconsidered his choices and decided to suddenly tie Shouto and Katsuki together… Dreams can’t hurt anybody, as long as they stayed as dreams. So he compressed his thought about kissing Bakugou with a slip of his wine, asking for his opinion about a woman’s choice of clothing, the one sat on the table at the corner, laughing with the absurd answers, even if they were kind of true (she really looked like a pink car accident, after all.)

That night, Shouto heard loud noises, more than normal, even so, he went to sleep peacefully, with happy memories of a certain blonde that was already taken.

The next day wasn’t as happy as the last one. It was early in the morning when he heard pained moans coming from the hallway and, afraid of it being a burglar, he went there to see what happened. There, Bakugou was found in the floor, back against the wall, hugging his own knees and hiding his face there. Shouto frowned “Bakugou?” and got even more worried when his landlord didn’t answer, did he pass out? What happened? He got closer.

“Don’t” his voice was weak, fragile, far away from the normal “Don’t come closer.”

“Bakugou…”

“Please.”

“I won’t” maybe he lied there, but who cares. “If you tell what happened.”

And then Bakugou lifted his head to look at the younger man, and contrary to Shouto’s deductions, he wasn’t crying, but Shouto hoped he was. His lower lip was cut, cheeks red with wounds and a deep purple around his left eye. Even so, he wasn’t crying. Not a single tear. And something in Shouto’s subconsciousness screamed ‘is because he’s used to’ but he decided to ignore, both his thoughts and his promise, kneeling in front of Bakugou.

“Who did that?”

“Nothing of your fucking business.”

“Was it your boyfriend?” he said without thinking, since there was no way it could be, right? They were soulmates and the explosive blonde would never allow something like that to happen. It couldn’t be… But when he didn’t get a reply, everything came on Shouto’s mind again, not only the noises upstairs last night and many others. He reminded his mother crying on the floor, her eye covered in bandages when she was cooking his lunch as if nothing never happened, she trowing a kettle of boiling water right on his face and the next words came out with more ease than intended. “Bakugou, are you being abused?”

He froze after hearing it, looking to his sides as if someone could free him from having that conversation, “I’m not.”

“But he did it to you, right?”

“Couples fight all the time.”

“They do, Bakugou, but not like this. I’ll go to you to the police station, ok? He won’t hurt you anymore.”

“I don’t want to go!” he yelled, forcing his hoarse voice to work and Shouto kept quiet. “This is fucking nothing and I don’t want you messing on my business, understood?”

He should. But for now, the only thing he was able to do was to grab his medicine kit and start doing Bakugou’s bandages, cleaning the wound and carefully wrapping them. Even when he passed the disinfectant, he didn’t complain about pain, just closed his eyes and when Shouto noticed, Katsuki was already asleep. He carefully carried him on his arms, leading him to Shouto’s bed, where he was put down and stayed there, Shouto sat beside him on the floor, watching his wounds and wondering how many of them were hidden under his clothes.

He remembered his mother and how well she was doing nowadays, without that man interfering on her life; everything was fine after he cut the string. The string. He looked at it, attaching him to his abuser and before he could even think straight, he was already holding that scissors, the one that were being hidden in the last cabinet for years after his last use. He knew he should understand the situation better; maybe Bakugou was telling the truth and that never happened before, maybe they fought and his boyfriend was in the same state as his. But he knew that was a lie. So without second thinking, he cut it.

But nothing happened. He blinked and tried cutting once again. Nothing changed. He tried once, twice, thrice, the red string was still there, as if mocking him. Suddenly, he remembered that priest’s words. “The string can only be cut when one of the parties want it to end” he repeated it to himself as if deciphering a code. Bakugou didn’t want it to end. Why? Did Shouto misunderstood it, in the end? If he was being abused, the string could be cut down. Quietly, he put the scissors back in the drawer.

He didn’t sleep that night.

Two weeks passed and Bakugou was nowhere to be seen. As soon as Shouto slept, the sun already up, the man left and hasn’t show up since then. Shouto was worried, but since he hasn’t heard any more loud noises at night, he thought it was all right. His life normalized, with university and his part time job as a waiter, or at least he thought so, until he came home to find a suspicious looking man in front of their door.

“Oh, sorry, man!” he recognized that voice, from where? “I’m Kirishima Eijirou, no one suspicious at all! Swear!”

Kirishima. The name played with his memories, wasn’t he the one that Bakugou asked to leave that night? “Todoroki Shouto, pleased to meet you.”

“You’re so formal, man! But Midoriya told me ‘bout ya, living on the first floor, right? I’m your landlord’s friend. Well, I think, at least. Is he at home? I’ve been here for like, half an hour and I think the neighbors are almost calling the police.”

“I haven’t seen him recently.”

“Recently like?”

“Two weeks or so” the expression on the visitor’s face changed, that friendly smiling disappearing in place to give space to a worried one, as if Shouto had just told him that the world was ending.

“What? Dontcha guys live together?”

“He never leaves his floor.”

Kirishima looked around before getting closer, whispering, something strange for someone that seemed so noisy all the time. “Haven’t you noticed anything strange?” Shouto nodded. “Can you tell me?”

“I don’t know, if the situation is explained to me before” and the red haired looked at the house, windows locked, as if considering the pros and cons of telling it to someone he has never seen before. After one minute or two, he sighed, scratching his neck.

“Hey, Todoroki, why don’t we grab a bite, huh?”

They arrived at a shady bar, one that Todoroki would never come in ordinary situations, but that was no ordinary day and Kirishima assured him that the bar was safe, owned by one of his acquaintances (a loud man with even louder hairstyle, going with the name of Kaminari Denki), so they sat on the corner and asked for the special of the day. The food was as shady as the place, so Shouto just went with something to drink, affirming he had already eat.

“I dunno how I should start, lemme think” he said between hungry bites, making Shouto. “Have you met his boyfriend?”

“Not once.”

“Lucky you, then. Shady man, creepy one. And a ridiculous haircut.”

“Where did he and Bakugou met?”

“Dunno, maybe the gym. Bakubro doesn’t look like it right now but he used to go like, twice a week or so” he snorted, as if he had nice memories of that time. Shouto didn’t doubt of. “He’s nothing like before, though. He is so skinny right now, is he eating? And I doubt he goes out of the house more than once a month.”

“How was he before?”

“Hm, hard to say. Loud. Angry. Swear a lot. Well, he’s kinda that way still, but it was different. The guy had a fucking huge pride and didn’t stand someone telling him whatcha do” his smile died and he shrugged. “Not anymore, though.”

“Sorry, what do you mean?”

“When that fucker he’s dating told him to stop going to the gym, he said he wouldn’t go anymore. He didn’t want him at parties, either, and soon he decided he didn’t like Bakugou’s friends, so we were left behind” he rested his fork in the plate, concentrated on his memories. “They’ve been dating for three years now and it has been one and a half that Bakugou stopped going outside and living, bet the bastard has something to do with it.”

“And the guys he’s with…?”

“A completely asshole” he could hear the anger on Kirishima’s voice. “Never liked him, we all said he was a strange guy and to be honest, we all doubted he liked him, too. He always kept quiet when we asked about their relationship and shit and I understood why when we…” he stopped, looking suspiciously at Shouto. “You said you saw something strange, what was it?”

“I think he was beaten by his boyfriend” he confessed, aware of it being kind of a secret between him and Katsuki, but it wasn’t time to keep secrets right now, if he could help, he would tell Kirishima everything.

“Yeah, he is” Kirishima passed his hands trough his hair, messing his hair style. “I was suspicious of him being abusive before I even saw the wounds, but…”

“Wounds?” he wondered what wounds, since there was none visible on Bakugou, normally. He wanted to know if there was more. He knew there was.

“Yeah” he sounded pained and he closed his eyes, head resting on the wall. “There’s a lot of them. All over his body. When I saw it I ran to the police station to make a testimony.”

“But the man is still there.”

“Bakugou denied everything and since the victim was denying, the police considered it a closed case. That was a year ago and the reason I’m not allowed into their house anymore.”

“Why is he denying?”

“I don’t know. He just says it’s none of my business and that I should keep quiet, but…” he stopped in the middle, as if deciding careful on what to say next. “Listen, there’s a saying that goes like ‘No one should poke their nose into a husband-and-wife fight’ but I don’t believe it’s true. You should poke your nose and everyone’s nose if that’s necessary, but no one should pretend that it isn’t happening. Todoroki, I know you probably knows it, but people die. People die on the hands of their partners. There’s more than 10 thousand murderers like this a year, and it happens because everyone thinks it’s not good to poke their nose into a fight, because when they see someone strangling their partner, they blame it on the one being strangled, assuming they were cheating or maybe did something wrong. And, even if they did, it not a reason, understood?”

Shouto did not reply, so Kirishima continued. “There’s abusive relationships everywhere, but we all pretend that there aren’t because it’s easier to turn on a blind eye. But they exist, Todoroki. They are there with all genders, all sexes, we just pretend. Look, I went to various police stations, not just one. But there was just one that listened to me, why? They assumed there’s no way a man could be abused by another man. Todoroki, before all sexes or genders, there’s a person, and everyone can be abused, everyone can suffer, everyone can be beaten with no reason and everyone can cry. But it’s hard to see people as they are, behind gender roles and orientations.”

Again, Shouto stood quiet.

“People are dying, Todoroki. And I don’t want Katsuki to be one of those numbers.”

He agreed but stood in silence, still. Kirishima too didn’t talk more, back to eating his food until the end and when he finished, they parted ways as if nothing happened, just with a quiet promise of not letting the numbers increase.

He went home with just one goal on his minds; cut that string.

The walk home took some while, but he was not worried about his classes tomorrow or his few sleep hours when he arrived at 2 a.m. He was worried about the blonde man sitting on the front stairs, eyes closed as he smoke a cigarette, smoke disappearing in the night darkness. Shouto approached and sat right next to Katsuki, silent. “Kirishima came.”

“I know. The idiot is noisy, I listened him from upstairs.”

“Why didn’t you come out to talk with him?”

Katsuki didn’t answer at first and Shouto thought he wouldn’t receive a reply, but then he heard, like a whisper. “It hurts.”

“What hurts?” he was already prepared to go get his medicine box, scared that him was beaten again.

“Talking with Eijirou. It hurts.”

“Why?” he already knew why.

“It remembers me of old days. Before I met that fucker.”

”Why don’t you break up with him?”

“It’s not that easy.”

Of course it's not. Shouto knew it very well.

“I know, but why, though?”

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

He lifted his little finger, where it was almost touching his mouth, Shouto’s eyes going from those pale-pink lips to the red string tied there, connecting him to somewhere, someone. The blonde cocked his head, aware of the attention.

“I thought you, more than anyone, could understand why.”

“Maybe.”

“You can see it, huh?” he cocked his head to the back, watching the shiny stars, as if they mocked him. The stars were shiny, free on the sky, thousand of years far away from problems, just existing. Mocking everyone, including Shouto and Katsuki. “So I guess I was right.”

“Why did you find out?”

“When yourself is able to see them, you kind of recognize anyone with the same damn power. And you weren’t exactly the most surreptitious person I’ve met, I saw it when when we first met” he got up, his cigarette already over. “Well, that explains your question.”

“What?”

“About why I can’t break up with him” he turned on his heels so Shouto couldn’t see his expression when he entered their house. “Good night, Todoroki.”

It explained.

The red string wasn’t connecting Katsuki to someone; it was caging him. It was his own, secret prison. One that he didn’t want to get out of.

A week later, Shouto was woken up by loud yelling. They were fighting. Still on his pajamas, consisting on a grey hoodie and sweatpants, he ran upstairs, not even thinking about the consequences as the door was opened with harshness, revealing Bakugou on the ground, maybe unconsciousness, but even so, the man was still beating him up. He looked up at Shouto, who froze at the entrance, seeing the man’s knuckles stained with blood, Katsuki’s blood, and he remembered his father, memories he didn’t want to remember never again. The scene flashed and suddenly it was his mother at the floor, bleeding, not able to hear his screams. Even the blonde hair was painted with blood and the man smiled, proud of his work. Still, Shouto couldn’t do anything.

“Huh? The boy living on the first floor? Came to beat this slut, too?” he felt nauseous. The man laughed and threw his head behind.

“Get away from him” Shouto managed to say, gathering courage from God-knows-where.

“Why?” he kicked Bakugou on the stomach, who rolled a little, letting Shouto see his face. He hoped he didn’t. It was worse than the first time Shouto saw after a beating. So horrendous to even describe. He need to take him out of there. “I can do the fuck I want with him, the bitch doesn’t even care.”

“No, you can’t” his voice was trembling, but he didn’t care, he came closer, ready to punch the bastard. “You are sick and you destroyed his life, you are the most horrendous human being to do this, you…” he lifted his arm, but was stopped by a hand on his heel. Bakugou opened one of his eyes, as if begging for him to not do it. He stopped, but the man laughed.

“Tomorrow he will be licking my fucking feet again, you don’t even matter” he turned on his heels to probably go to the bedroom. “Tell him to clean his blood when he wakes up, it’s gross.”

He didn’t wait for the man to go away to throw himself on the ground, next to Bakugou, who was on the merge of falling into unconsciousness again. He held his hand, but Katsuki didn’t held back. “Bakugou? Bakugou? I need to call an ambulance, please stay awake, Bakugou…”

“You… Noisy” he whispered, closing his eyes while Shouto took his cellphone out of his hoodie’s pocket, calling for an ambulance, desperate, hoping they understood him behind those confused words.

“They are coming… I’m sorry, Bakugou, I’m sorry, I should have come before, please just wait until they arrive, I will carry you to the entrance, alright?” Katsuki didn’t answer and Shouto got closer, trying to ignore the blood staining his hood as the got Bakugou on his arms, whispering soft words that everything would be fine, glad when the man nodded for once, when they were going down the stairs. He was still conclusion, but both weren’t sure for how long. But one thing is for sure, Katsuki was strong, and he would survive this.

The ambulance arrived and the paramedics didn’t hesitate to take Bakugou out off his arms, allowing Shouto to get into the ambulance with Bakugou, as he was the only person present at the scene. He held his hand all the way to the hospital, where he finally let his minds rest, as he was taken to an hospital room. Later Shouto would discover that Bakugou stood awake for him, but now, he could only sit on the hallway, trying to hold back his tears as he called his siblings, Kirishima, Midoriya and his mother too. Kirishima was the first one to come, followed by some of Katsuki friends that didn't hesitate to introduce themselves as Sero Hanta, Ashido Mina, Kaminari Denki and one or two other than stayed for a few minutes, promising that they would pass by later, then they called Bakugou’s parents that arrived even faster. Deku didn’t came, as he was sleeping and never got to answer the call. Surprisingly, Shouto’s sister came to give him a shoulder to cry. It was already morning when Katsuki’s parents were allowed in the room, staying there for a good hour or two before they left, crying, but smiling, telling everyone that he was fine. “He wants to see you, Todoroki” his mother smiled softy, silently thankful for bringing his son there; Bakugou must have told them what happened.

He hesitated to enter the room, but did after one or two minutes of staring at the door. He stood still next to the bed and Bakugou actually smiled, even with broken bones and visible wounds, he could still gather his forces to smile. Shouto, once again, cried.

“Calm down, Icyhot, we should talk here” he said, voice still weak. “I’m fine.”

“You weren’t yesterday” he gulped and Bakugou faced the floor. “Can… Can you tell me what happened?”

He thought he wouldn’t get a reply, as Bakugou kept quiet for more than five minutes to actually open his mouth again, “The first time he hit me, he said sorry.”

Shouto didn’t know where that come from, but he kept quiet.

“I got angry and yelled at him, but he said it wouldn’t happen again. The second and third time, he said sorry again. When he tried to strangle me for the first time, he bought flowers. Everytime I was beaten I could expect an apology and flower on the next day, but then, they stopped coming and I gave up” he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, continuing to talk. “He kept a gun under the bed, so everytime I fought back, he would threaten me with. Fuck. I don’t remember when I started to believe when he said no one would fucking care if he exploded my head into pieces.”

“It’s not true.”

“I know, still I didn’t leave him.”

“Why?”

Again, he stopped with the explanation for a while, as if he was thinking carefully about what he would say next. “I thought I deserved it.”

“No one deserves that, Bakugou.”

“When we were kids, I bullied Deku a lot” he gulped. “I regret, of course. We were actually getting along when I met him, but when all of this started, I thought it was karma. Destiny tied me together with a man that kept on beating me, so after a while I… I gave up. I let him do what he wanted. If he wanted me to stay home? Fine. He wants me to stop working? Alright. He wants to kick me until I lost consciousness and then fuck me like that? Ok.”

“Bakugou…”

“Not now. I’m talking” he was clearly holding his tears now. “Sometimes I would think that I didn’t deserve that, so he would beat me all again and I would blame myself, every night.”

Shouto held his hands, Bakugou didn’t back away.

“Why am I tied to someone like that? Is there a fucking reason if not karma? I…” he couldn’t hold back anymore. “Fuck, I hate crying” and Shouto used his free hands to clean those tears, careful to not press any wound. "He's gonna kill me, I know that."

Shouto knew where that come from, yesterday he was beaten with the intend to kill. Sometimes, the victims just stops being abused when they are killed, and unfortunately, that's where most of abuses cases ends, not in police stations or with the abused leaving the house; they end on funerals, or at least, when they bother to give the victim one. Any type of denial Bakugou was into was now broken, specially after seeing his parents. He was now sure, he would be killed soon, it was the next step, and that was true. For that reason, Shouto didn't answer to that, instead, kept quiet, knowing exactly what to say next.

“You know, my mother and my dad were soulmates” he started after some minutes of Bakugou sobbing. “Every night, he would spank her until he was bored. She didn’t chose it, and never did anything to deserve it. You may have done something bad in the past, Bakugou, but it never gave him the right to do what he wanted to you” Katsuki was now paying attention to him, crying already calming down. “It’s not your fault and never was, but now, you need to move on. Soulmates aren’t everything and sometimes you are better without them.”

“Your mother… How is she now?”

Shouto smiled, caressing the back of Bakugou’s hand, “She’s doing amazing. I cut her ties with my father and never heard of him ever since. She… She has the most amazing laugh in the world, Katsuki. It’s beautiful. And I’m sure yours is, too, so, please, let me, us, help you. I know that now it may seems like the world has ended, but it haven’t, just looks like it. It just starting, you just need to be brave and start a new life, and, I’ve seen the hallway, there’s so many people that care about you, Bakugou.”

“Yeah” he sniffed, a proud smile on his face. “I know.”

“So, promise that you will say everything to the police, so you can be free once again.”

“It’s scary.”

“I know it is, but you have been though a lot, Bakugou, I promise that this will be nothing, alright?” he pat the blonde hair in a calm way, the same way his mother used to pat him when he had a nightmare. They stood like this for another minute or two, he could tell that Katsuki was thinking seriously about it.

“Yesterday, he tried to kill me. He strangled me until I lost consciousness and then started spank me. If it wasn’t for you, I…”

“I know, you don’t need to speak about it.”

“I can show the police the gun under his bed and the blood on the stains on the carpet. There’s pictures on his cellphone, they…” he gulped and Shouto had to calm down once again. “I… I just hope they will listen to me.”

“They will, you suffered for a long time in silence, Bakugou, it’s time to let them hear your voice” and that was the trigger, the blonde started crying uncontrollably, holding Shouto’s hand with all his might, not letting him go. The halfie was still caressing him, letting him cry all he wanted; crying is good sometimes, and Bakugou hasn’t been crying for a long time. They stood like that for maybe an hours, when the door was opened, revealing a desperate Midoriya Izuku, who seemed as he had ran to the hospital as soon as he heard the voice mail, and that was probably it, since he was still on his pajamas and his hair was messier than usual. Bakugou snorted.

“You worry too fucking much, nerd” and let go of Shouto’s hands. Todoroki kissed his forehead before going outside, not even being noticed by Midoriya, who ran, crying, to the bed where his childhood friend was laying. He smiled as he stepped outside, hearing the complains about ‘Ugh, you are heavy, Deku’ or ‘fuck, be careful with the arm, little shit!’ but even so, he swore he could hear a smile in those harsh words.

After Midoriya, Kirishima and the other entered, and Shouto had to calm Midroya for an hour or so until he fell asleep, after Kirishima and the group came out and left (not Kirishima, he had called his work to tell them he wasn’t able to go today) the hospital, Bakugou’s parents entered again, and just at night Shouto was called back inside. He knew Katsuki had made his mind, and, after meeting with so many people that genuinely cared about him, the choice could be just one.

“Hey, Half’n’Half” he smirked, lifting his little finger, glad it was on the arm that wasn’t broke. “Don’t you have a string to cut?”

A year and a half later, you could say that everything was fine once again, the situation has been normalized and they continued their lives, with a few changes, of course.

The first one change is that now, Shouto and Katsuki were together. As soon as he got discharged from the hospital, Shouto confessed to him, and was declined at first, Katsuki saying that he didn’t want to get in a relationship so soon and Todoroki understood his wishes. How could he not? But, on the day he received the notice that his ex-partner was sentenced to a decade in jail (which Shouto thought it was short, for what he have done), after months of fighting in the courts and retelling the previous 3 years, he ran to tell Shouto the news, going on about how few abusers actually went to jail for their crimes and thanking Todoroki for never leaving his side on this fight, and then it happened.  Bakugou himself kissed him, laughing over the surprised reaction he received (‘You should see your stupid face right now), and then they kissed again, and again, and one or two more times, until Shouto confessed again and Bakugou finally accepted. Well, they have been dating for almost a year and are already living together. Once a week his mother, Rei, would visit to bring some food or a new scarf made by her, and almost every day, Mitsuki and Masaru would pass by for a visit.

Shouto was on his last year on university along with Midoriya, but Katsuki was now working again, at the same luxious restaurant he once worked, he had a warm welcome and even a party to celebrate the years he passed on hiatus and, soon, he went back to his original position as head chef. His weekly routine now resumed in working at the restaurant, going on dates with his boyfriend, meeting his friends at least once a week (they’re insistent, he said once, not even trying to hide the smile on his face) and sometimes, giving speeches.

That’s another thing that changed, two months ago he was invited to talk about his past abuse on a school and from that on it never stopped, at least thrice a month he would go somewhere to share his experience with whoever wanted to hear, and many people had thanked him for talking about it, saying that it changed their lives or their acquaintance's lives. Shouto couldn’t be more proud.

He stood quiet for a long time; he needed now to talk, scream, yell. And that’s exactly what he was doing.

“Hey” Bakugou threw his arms on Shouto’s shoulders, hugging him from behind while Todoroki was sitting, finishing his report. “Whatcha doin’?”

“A boring essay” he sighed but smiled soon after, turning to look at his lover. “And you?”

“Going out with Kiri and the others” he touched Shouto’s lips with his, smiling softly after the contact. “You’re invited too, they miss your handsome face or shit like that” and the taller one snorted, knowing that it was probably Ashido who said about his appearance.

“Can’t, babe, need to finish this today if I want to be free tomorrow” he passed his arms around Katsuki’s waist, bringing him closer to the point where he was standing still in the middle of Shouto’s open legs. Bakugou too changed his positions, as his hands passed to caress the half-ginger hair, playing where white and red meet.

“You coming tomorrow?”

“Of course.”

“Doesn’t it get boring? Listening to the same speech every damn time?”

“Not when it’s you speaking” he said it with such a blank expression that Katsuki couldn’t help but laugh. “Don’t be late, I’ll wait for you to come back so we can talk some more, alright?”

“We talk tomorrow, don’t wanna be guilty if I stay out too late, you need to rest” and he kissed Shouto again, more intense this time, and again and again, until they parted ways to breath. “Fuck, we should totally continue this later.”

“Agree. Later, though, you need to get going” he released his arms off his lover’s waist, letting him go.

“Yeah” he picked the jacket abandoned next to the computer Todoroki was using, putting it on. “I’m off, then.”

“Have a safe trip, I love you.”

Bakugou laughed again, staying quiet for a second or two so Shouto could see the fondness on his eyes, before giving him a peck before turning on his heels, ready to go meet his friends “Yeah, love you too.”